Visitors From a Familar Place
by xMoonStorm
Summary: On Earth the Autobots get some visitors. Ironhide x Chromia, Elita x Prime, Ratchet x WheelJack, Prowl x Jazz. Put into M for later chapters. P.S. : I don't own Transformers.
1. Waiting

It was a day like any other on the base of Earth where the Autobots dwell when not out in the world. Well almost like any other, there had been a transmission that there were more Autobots heading towards earth that morning. It was estimated that they would arrive that night. Which was all well as they could land and seem like meteors, hopefully better than they had landed themselves. Tension greased the air as they were impatient to see who it was who had sent the transmission.

Ironhide paced around the room, his broken ankle clanking slightly, his working optic was plastered to the floor before him. With a growl he demanded, "Can't they hurry up!?" It was Ratchet who answered him.

"Be reasonable, look how long it took us to arrive. They are at least two joors from arriving here on Earth." Ironhide looked at the reasonable transformer with a one optic glare. Frustrated he spat at Ratchet, "Can't you fix my optic, or my lower leg joint? It has been several orns since last you even looked at them."

It wasn't unusual for Ironhide to be short and blunt, but to ask something specific of the medic was odd indeed. It seemed he was worried about something, what it was Ratchet did not know, instead he nodded, "Very well." He lead the battle prone comrade to his place of operations and told him to lay upon the table . Ironhide did so and with out warning Ratchet shorted his circuits making him unconscious. It was at least a joor before his systems came back online. He shuttered his optic tight and sat up cursing under his exhaust at the medic, "He didn't have to do that…." He opened his optics and found his right one partly working. With this new found ability he rotated his ankle finding his armor at least didn't clang. "Well, its a start…" he muttered still not liking the fact he had been shocked so. He was sure Ratchet would avoid him for the rest of the day, expecting to be shot at. With a groan of his gears he moved from the room and looked about, minimum sight capacity being odd since it had been so long when last his right optic had been in use.

It was Bumblebee who he first ran upon, it was an excited array of static and radio exclamations that greeted his audio receptors. He grabbed the smaller Autobot by the arms lifting him up to his optics, "Can it. Cool your out going ports and try again." Bumblebee was caught off guard by the sudden flight that Ironhide gave him. It took him a moment to compose his vocalizations.

"Message from fleet Capitan……arriving today… …it's time! You must come! Can't Wait!! Can't wait!" he exclaimed trying to animate the fragments, but Ironhide had his arms pinned to his sides. The battle prone Autobot dropped the small robot and turned to walk down the hall, leaving Bumblebee sitting on the ground slightly dazed. Out into the main area he wandered his thoughts bringing up reminders. It was confirmed, all of them were deemed dead. He glared at anything and everything in his path, whether it moved or no. When he came upon Jazz he growled lowly, "I don't wish to speak…" before he had even opened his mouth. It was odd, the giant usually at least allowed a 'Hello' but to deny even that there must be something throwing him into a state of self battery. Jazz muttered under his breath as Ironhide left, "Geeze, what crawled up his tail pipe?"

The lieutenant took his concern to their leader. Optimus listened and gained more knowledge after asking the others how his trigger happy friend had been acting that day. By the end of it he had a fairly good idea of what it was that was bothering him. Leaving Ratchet in his hiding place the leader went in search of Ironhide. Seeing Jazz had stuck to him he asked him, "If you are coming you can not say anything to him about what happened, Understand?"

He shifted a shoulder, "You know I got your back." Being a yes from the colorful word using 'bot. With a confirmed nod Optimus lead the way to Ironhide's quarters. A knock on the door gained no reply, so the door was opened. Empty... they headed to the armor room to see if he was trying to distract himself with weapons.

They didn't find him there either. After giving all the likely places he would be a sweep they went outside. They picked their way around finding a large fresh trail through the growth that had not been there previously. Following it they came to a baron cliff, at it's edge stood Ironhide. The wind was buffeting him gently though he didn't notice. Nor did he see the brilliant sunset, his optics were fixed on a far off place in the sky on another world entirely.

Before either of the unnoticed visitors could drag Ironhide from his dreaming state a large ball of fire in the sky did it for them. Not far behind the one there were three more. All three of the grounded robots followed them for a moment. Turning to go track them down, Ironhide was surprised to see his commanding officers there. Though he didn't bother asking why, that wasn't important any longer. They all raced to the road transforming into their vehicle disguises to continue their journey.


	2. Arrival

It was dark when they arrived at an old warehouse building, long unused and forgotten. In the still air they heard not only their own motors… but four others approaching. Everyone sat looking in the direction of approach. Optimus standing silently, Jazz crouching, Ratchet also standing though his stance was more wary than expectant. Bumblebee could hardly hold still, he was so excited that serious and formal looking Ironhide kept a heavy hand on his shoulder to keep him in one general place. They all watched the area closely, for movement, for light. A low groan of metal caught everyone's receptors, their optics moved to the shadows where four bots emerged.

The first to step forward was a mech. His motions were fluid as he crept closer to the group, his build was narrow, almost feminine.

Optimus greeted him, "We are pleased to see you arrived with out misfortune, Prowl."

The mech, named Prowl, gazed at the group for another moment before he beckoned the others, shrouded in shadow, forward. He was already making his way closer to the group.

Into the light stepped a femme, her face plates gave her a commanding air. As the white and pink 'bot stepped beside the black and silver Prowl, Optimus greeted her, slightly less formally.

"Elita," everyone knew he wished to press his forehead to hers in a sweet kiss. He wanted to so badly his oil lines could burst, but his leadership etiquette dictated that he remain professionally distant.

Next appeared a second mech, he was much less fragile looking than Prowl and his lower face plates were covered by a protective mask.

"WheelJack!" it was Ratchet who greeted him before Optimus could even open his mouth. Ironhide stood starring silently pleading, 'Please, please, please, let it be her…' repeatedly.

As the last Cybertronian stepped from the shadows, everyone beheld the blue and white femme, battle made and voluptuous unlike Elita.

"Chromia," Optimus said as Ironhide sighed her name simultaneously. Jazz and Bumblebee were talking to Prowl. WheelJack and Ratchet were catching up as were Elita and Optimus, leaving Ironhide to Chromia. His optics scanned the curves of her design knowing there was more than one gun on her, just as she knew he had all the guns he could carry on him.

"It's been a while," she smiled speaking as if it had been only a breem since last they saw each other, it seemed like a vorn really it had been about half that. Her voice was like music to his audio receptors. "How have you been?"

"Oh, Yah know… shootin' at and beatin' the slag outta the Decepticons…" he replied with a light shrug. "You?"

"Looking for survivors and beating the slag out of Decepticons," she told him with a mimicked shrug. They looked around at their friends. Optimus and Elita were having a detailed conversation of what had occurred. Prowl, Jazz and Bee were joking, while WheelJack was telling Ratchet how much he missed the medic as he was 'cursed tired of picking up and putting back' pieces of himself when something blew up. Ratchet laughed at his matter of fact tone.

How wonderful to have them back with them, if only time could stand still and they could hold onto this moment forever.


	3. Reminding

At the autobot base things were all but quiet. . . .

"Get your aft back here!" a streak of a mostly white body followed closely by a neon yellow went through the main chambers of the large base.

"I didn't mean for that to happen!" WheelJack cried as he continued his mad dash away from Ratchet, his lights flashing with his words.

"I don't care if you meant it or not! You're going to clean the bay spotless, you loose cannon!" Ratchet hollered.

"Cannon?! Where!?" Ironhide appeared in WheelJack's path blocking his escape.

"No, no, no…. Ironhide move!" WheelJack whined in a desperate tone. Ironhide wouldn't move though, he was determined to know what cannon and where. Ratchet grabbed WheelJack's shoulder, making the younger mech yelp as he feared the medic would kill him. As much as he didn't want to go, he didn't really have a choice.

It was normal for WheelJack to have grease, burn spots, dust and ash on him from explosions and such, but when Ironhide saw the black on Ratchet, he demanded to know what had happened. After a short explanation of how WheelJack had been showing Ratchet a new form of energy booting liquid, which had been left on the edge of the table, it fell and exploded, taking half the med bay with it Ironhide threatened to demolish WheelJack if he didn't clean up his mess.

Needless to say he went without further fuss. Optimus, being close to Ratchet's quarters, had already guessed what had occurred. BumbleBee, on the other hand, had to go see for himself. Popping into the trashed room he wandered around picking up and dropping things, making the mess worse, as a constant stream of questions flowed from his audios bombarded Ratchet. It wasn't untill the medic got fed up and yelled at BumbleBee to get his aft out that Bee realized it might not be a good time to ask questions. Following his banishment from the med bay Bee told everyone that Ratchet was in a foul mood, everyone thought 'foul' was an under statement.

Chromia, having stayed in her room for the most part, decided it was time to for Ironhide to prove he hadn't gotten rusty over the years. She found him, with BumbleBee, in his room explaining how an energy blasting gun is assembled and what every piece 's function is. Knocking on the door jamb she caught their attention.

"How about a friendly game of target practice?" she asked them as she leaned her shoulder and hip against the frame, her arms folding under her chassis. Ironhide's cooling systems kicked in working over normal as he stared at the curves of the femme in his door, he could only nod.

"Sure!" Bee said delighted.

On their way out they passed Jazz and Prowl. The latter was trying to convince the former to hang from the tree upside down with him. As Jazz listed off reasons why he wouldn't Ironhide kept a hand over BumbleBee's mouth so he couldn't say anything to ruin the moment's playful air.

They continued down to the vacant valley where they could practice without endangering anyone. On their journey Chromia watched how her companions interacted with each other. With a smile she giggled thinking, 'They act like father and son. I wonder what they would say to being told that? Ironhide would probably act all gruff and deny it, even though he knows its true.'

"Who wants the first shot?" Ironhide's voice crashed through her train of thought, but she didn't mind as their optics lock to each other's for a brief moment.

"Bee, why don't you go first?" the femme called gently, acting as if she needed more time to assemble her gun.

"Alright!" he jumped up from the rock he had sat on and dashed forward a short ways, stopping suddenly as he aimed at a rock off in the distance. With a bright blast he shot, the recoil almost knocking him over. They all watched as the rock's side was blown off.

"Aw man…" Bee mumbled, it was slightly off center not a perfect shot. Chromia motioned for Ironhide to go next, the weapon specialist nodded and walked up to the mark heaving his large gun up to his shoulder where it settled allowing him to aim. He pointed his sight to a larger boulder a little to the left of Bee's rock. With a boom, almost sonic, the gun jerked the mech back a step, he quickly regained balance wanting to see if he made his mark or not. When the blast met the boulder it looked like a small nuclear bomb went off, a mushroom cloud was all that was left of the piece of earth.

Chromia raised her optic ridges, impressed at the power his gun gave, but she smiled coyly as she took her stance. Her weapon of choice was much smaller than Ironhide's, he actually scoffed when he saw her hold it up. Nestling its butt to her shoulder she looked down the nose looking for something good to aim at, rather to demolish. What Ironhide didn't know was that her gun, however slightly smaller was just as if not more powerful that his. The small orb that ejected from the nose of her gun made him laugh, until it impacted the stone and it seemed to implode before exploding, a wave of air came rolling back over them. The femme smiled sweetly to the open mouthed mechs sitting their, Bee recovered first.

"Wow!! That's beyond cool! Can I use it sometime!? Please, please can I!?" He tugged on Mia's free arm gently much like the Sparkling he is.

"Maybe," she laughed. Her optics flicked shyly up to Ironhide's who shook his head and gave a low whistle.

"What is that?"

"A modified version of the tracker shooter," she shrugged lightly.

"Mind explaining a bit more in detail later?"

"Not at all. Where and when?"

"My quarters, 18:00 hours." She nodded as they started back for the base.

"Dang… Remind me never to Piss Chromia off," Jazz told Prowl as he leaned against the tree they were in, Prowl still hanging upside down. On top of the cliff they could see the tiny group like miniature figures moving in a video game.


	4. Getting Use to It

A few days after Ironhide's humiliation, Bee decided he wanted to share the brilliance of the comedian Jeff Dunham with Prowl. Prowl sat silent through out the skit, while Bee fell out laughing. When it was over he looked to Bee, then to the monitor and back again, "Is this necessary, Bumblebee?"

Jazz pounced on Prowl's back, "You can't hate Jeff Dunham! This guy Is sweet!" Prowl almost fell from the sudden extra weight.

"Get… Off…" Prowl glared back at Jazz not liking the fact he had just about been knocked into the computer.

Meanwhile Ironhide was standing next to his berth, watching his recharging femme. He relished the way the sunlight slid over her soft blue and chrome frame, she mumbled and shifted as her dreams changed. Sadly the quiet moment was blown to pieces with a loud boom that shook the base slightly.

"What the frag!?" Ironhide lurched out the door, Chromia right behind him, having been yanked out of recharge. Ratchet sped past them muttering, "I bet he half blew himself up…" his kit in hand and a scowl on his face to hide the worry.

Diving into the smoking door Ratchet called, "WheelJack?" His optics little use in the clouded room, he made his way slowly through the rubble of the room. "WheelJack?!" He called louder, the door, half off its hinges, had a crowd of the other Autobots waiting to see if he had done it this time.

"I'm…" WheelJack coughed, "… over here…." He was pinned under a slab of the ceiling. Ratchet called back inside for help, Prowl, Bumblebee and the twins, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker came to help. Leaving the other four to move the slab Ratchet shimmied to WheelJack's side as soon as he could. 

"Jeez WheelJack, do you think you screwed up enough this time?" Sideswipe asked with a grunt from the slab's weight. Ratchet and WheelJack glared at him, if looks could kill. Both of the twins gasped and ran away, leaving Prowl and Bumblebee with the cement. It hit the floor almost immediately.

"If I had all of my legs that would have really hurt…" WheelJack commented looking just below his knees where the ceiling landed.

"Glad to see your humor is still intact." Ratchet said rummaging through his bag. Turning back to the injured mech Ratchet bash him over the head with a wrench. "You idiot! How many times have I told you to not blow up yourself! We need you alive!" Translation, 'Don't scare me like that ever again you slag for brains!' WheelJack squirmed moving a couple inches.

"Everything was connected how it was suppose to be.. All the calculations were correct…" he was still trying to figure out what had gone wrong himself, though he only gained another knock to the head from Ratchet.

"Stop moving, you've lost too much fluid already…"

"Ow…" he grumbled, his optics flickering, "You don't have to be so mean… you know I'd prefer that in private…" He slipped offline, still alive, just unconscious. Ratchet blushed and glanced to Prowl and Bee who looked at him questioningly. 

"He's out of it…" he muttered quickly turning back to WheelJack, "He has no Idea what he is saying." Looking to them again he snapped, "Well, get over here and help me get him to the med bay!" 

Leaving yet another demolished room the base seemed to take a giant sigh of relief seeing WheelJack was alive at least. Chromia tilted her head and asked Ratchet if he was able to repair her old friend, Ironhide stood comfortingly behind her. Elita and Optimus were much in the same position close by. Jazz took Bee's half of WheelJack just as SunStreaker tackled the yellow mech.

"Play Station!!" SunStreaker cried, "Come on!! I am so going to pwn your aft this time!"

"Can't that Wait!? We need to get him to the med bay!" Ratchet cried.

"Oh… Right, sorry." SunStreaker grinned sheepishly. 

"I am dizzy… Why is the world spinning so fast?" WheelJack babbled. "I can't feel my spleen…"

"You don't have a spleen WheelJack," Ratchet told him gently.

"Oh…. That's why it feels so empty…"

"Yes… that's why it feels so empty…" he shook his head and said, "Someone get the door."

With WheelJack finally in the medical bay to be repaired BumbleBee was allowed to be kid napped by SunStreaker to play games. It was an observation of many of the 'bots that they spent a lot of time together. Prowl and Jazz seemed to find this most amusing, Chromia thought it was cute Ironhide didn't seem to have an opinion.

Optimus observed the base and all his friends, for being in the middle of a war there was much love in the air. As the humans would say 'Spring fever' though he wasn't completely sure why they called it that. The couples melted away to more private places, Jazz and Prowl outside, Chromia and Ironhide to the armory, BumbleBee and SunStreaker to the game room. Elita walked up and dragged Optimus to his office, Ratchet grumbled and fussed at WheelJack in his dazed state as he worked quickly to stop the fluid loss.

And so we end the day with much love and eased stress. Till next Chapter 3


	5. Knock Knock?

Nobody Pass out at the excitement of a new chapter! It won't be brilliant, but at least it is something new.

It had been a few weeks since WheelJack's last fiasco, though Ratchet still badgered him about it. This was Ratchet in his most relaxed state, if there was someone around he would resume his tough ol' 'bot front. WheelJack knew better and just let him rant, trying to explain that it should have worked. Looking back over his materials the mech slapped his own forehead.

"No wonder!" he kicked himself several times, "The wire fusion was too close to the fuel systems.." With that Ratchet plowed another blow with his wrench to WheelJack's head.

"You Idiot!"

Meanwhile in a different room far from the med bay, where WheelJack was confined till all his circuts were in perfect order, Ironhide and Chromia were having a bit of a battle royal.

"Oh come on Ironhide, is that all?" Taunted the femme.

"I don't want to hurt you…" the mech replied gruffly.

"Then you aren't really trying are you?" she asked dashing forward to land a punch to his chassis. Ironhide reacted grabbing her arm and flinging her towards a wall. The smaller ' bot was more agile than her spark mate and was able to launch herself from the intended wall instead of crashing into it. Caught in midair she cursed, "Oh frag…" as Ironhide dragged her in circles by her legs. Tossing her aside once more the mech snorted.

"See what happens when I get serious." He gestured to the floor where paint had been left behind as she was dragged. The femme looked over her back and frowned mildly.

"So we are playing that game huh?" She grinned. The mech was confused, 'Game? What game?' his processors surged to figure it out as Chromia snaked her form around him plucking the latches to his chassis armor undone. With a loud clattering thud the two pieces fell leaving him feeling quiet vulnerable.

"Oh, that game.." he grinned. When they first met Chromia and Ironhide would have fights, and it would always come down to who stripped the other's armor first. This was one of the couples favorite games as it was not only a challenge, but it also lead to more intimate situations. It was always a tie at who won. Ironhide could simply hold her and remove her armor, but she was faster and harder to catch when her hand flitted to the latches and away.

Yes everywhere it seemed there was love in the Autobot base.

"No Your stance is wrong." Jazz corrected Prowl. Prowl less than happy at being corrected.

"No I am fairly sure my stance is correct," he resumed his previous position and set his staff in defense. Jazz just shrugged and surged forward bringing his staff around in a wide sweep to Prowl's side. An easy block, though for that block Prowl realized his footing was gone, Jazz had been right. With the second attack Prowl had to block and reset his feet; that split second imbalance gave Jazz the opportunity. He launched forward, his staff held in front parallel to his body. Prowl gasped and fell backwards with Jazz on top.

"Learned something, did yah?" Jazz smiled, good humored as always. Prowl turned his face, his lips forming the ever so slight pout that comes with him being embarrassed.

"Perhaps…" the mech admitted hesitantly. Jazz stood and offered a hand. Prowl took it and they started the practice session over again.

Elita nibbled one of her fingers as she watched Optimus pace to and fro across his office. She was perched on his desk an optic ridge quirked slightly.

"Why are you so bothered by this Optimus? There is nothing wrong with it. It's not like it is a shock, after all, look at what we've been through." The femme said al of this with a calm audio. Optimus fidgeted and paced.

"But now of all times Elita?" His audio was worried and nervous. "This could not have happened at a worse time." He shook his head and let out a gush from his cooling systems. "It is not that I am not happy.. It is that I worry about what will come of it. You know what happened all those years ago. I do not think I could stand that to happen again." Elita nodded knowing this was true, but she smiled all the same.

"This time will be different." It was a sure statement and with that she stood and embraced the fretting leader. "It will be alright. Nothing bad will happen." She smiled up to him, "I promise." The mech let out another gust and draped his arms around the femme, hoping she was right, longing that it would be true. Yet, for as much as he was worried, he could not suppress the bubble of excitement that welled up in his fuel tanks.

In the game room The Twins and BumbleBee were playing, of course, video games. Sideswipe stood behind Bee cheering him on as Sunstreaker tried to catch up in the race. To no avail, above the cheers a knock, knock, knocking came from the front door.

Till next chapter!


End file.
